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Demo available on Steam Next Fest!

Flarebound is now available on Steam Next Fest from Oct 13 to Oct 20. Play the demo for free and wishlist here!

Update log v0.9:

• New features
  • When tracing longer paths, every 5 tiles you automatically collect 1 additional coin and the reward increases by 1 as well. On tile 5 you get 1 coin, tile 10 you get 2 coins and so on. That way you get rewarded for very long paths but drawing too far is also very risky as you never know if there are more creatures moving down there…
• Polish
  • Completely refactored the bag/inventory system, now everything is held in the bag (including coins, flares and keys). Makes it simpler to understand.
  • Increased size and zoom of the dig area, now there is much more room to move around in (and dig into your doom by accident).
  • Polished the messages popping up when picking up things (no more overlapping texts)
  • Completely refactored the pod distance display, it now shows the distance and direction to the next target (either the escape pod or the next level door, whatever is closer)
  • Museum, added reveal button to make it more clear when a collection is complete and can be revealed (which will earn you lots of coins).
  • The intro text explaining how to dig now also shows a video. I may add more of those to the other gameplay explanation moments as well.
  • Added a bunch more creatures in the early levels. Be aware of the snakes!
  • Chest shows how many coins you have. Glow will increase based on content. How much can you collect?
  • When the time slows down to draw a new path, a grid appears where a flare can be thrown. I a later update I will add that this grid can be upgraded as well to throw flares further.
• Settings
  • Added “reset demo” button to settings, this will delete all progress and allow you to start the demo completely new.
• New upgrades
  • Bag limit can be upgraded to hold more things during your dig
  • Flares can be upgraded to mark creatures. When throwing a flare it automatically highlights creatures with a red glow in a certain radius as it flies past them.
  • Similar upgrade can be puchased to mark artefacts (in blue).
• Misc
  • Patched the build to protect against the exploit recently found in Unity games
  • As always lots of little bugfixes that are not worth mentioning here in detail

Some examples of the 0.9 update:

Hey folks, just released a new version of the demo to fix some glaring issues.

• Gameplay
  • Path length is no longer restricted; you can now trace a path as long as you want. Must be at least 5 tiles.
  • Start drawing is now always on the player tile directly, not one of the tiles around the character. Easier to understand for new players.
• UI
  • The bag now always shows what and how many items you have collected so far. In a later game update the bag will become an option in the upgrade cellar so you can collect more stuff on your way down
• Startmenu
  • Improved the start menu style, logo and menu
  • Added feedback and bug report form – please use it to make Flarebound better!
• Settingsmenu
  • Made some options availble in the settings, FPS cap, resolution and fullscreen options
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed some font issues on lower resolutions

The first DEMO of Flarebound is now available on Steam – please try it out and let me know if you find any issues or any other feedback. Thank you!

This version has a lot more polish, glowing mushrooms, better upgrades and effects and a million other little tweaks.

Still a demo though so it may contain lava-resisting bugs.

Here comes the 0.6 release, this time both web and windows builds. I have submitted this version as Demo build to Steam for review with the goal of having it live for the Steam Next Fest in October.

This version is now very close to completion for my demo scope which includes 3 depth levels, a few collections to unlock and upgrades to purchase.

There are a bunch of monsters crawling around this time, probably too many to have a fair gameplay. But balancing will come with the 0.7 version.

If there are any bugs I would be super glad if you could report them via the Bug report button in the game and I will have them fixed in the next version.

Thanks folks!

• ​New features
  • Game start menu
  • Audio (Music and SFX)
  • Upgrades can be purchased (under the museum)
• Polish
  • Path planning slows down time
  • Post effects (Bloom etc)
  • Better death effect (slow mo, black & white)
• Misc
  • First gameplay trailer​ released
  • Bugs can be reported here
  • Windows build also available​
  • Demo binaries submitted to Steam for review

Hey folks,

here comes v0.5 of Flarebound, this introduces significant changes like the museum and 8px characters.

There might be 1 or 2 more updates adding audio and more polish before the version is ready for a demo build I will share on Steam Next Fest.

Technically there is everything in there required for the demo but I need a bit more polish and adding audio.

Changes in v0.5:

• New features
  • Museum is open now – some of the collections can be completed for a big reward
  • Full changed the look&feel of character, enemies and items to 8px size
  • Short start dialog on first lauch of the game, explaining the goal
  • End of demo goal also included (when reaching the lowest exit in the game)
• Polish
  • Drawing a path is now much better, can backtrace to correct wrong selected pathways and there are no more gaps possible
  • Player leaves some lit tiles behind, easer to see if there are enemies chasing
• Bugfixes
  • When drawing a path to the escape pod, the need for “overdraw” (draw more tiles) is fixed now (player will start moving immediately if the escape pod is part of the path)
  • Coins dropped by dead enemies can now be picked up

Play here:
https://42bytes.itch.io/flarebound

Wishlist here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3780750/Flarebound/

Big update! Flarebound v0.4 is out now.

• Polish
  • Digging animation improved with particle effects and smoother movement
  • Better end of run success dialog that counts everything that was collected
  • Changed character and monsters to 8×8 px style for experimentation
  • Improved cursor handling
• New features
  • Player leaves behind lit tiles so its more visible what path has been travelled which helps to spot chasing enemies – Added new enemy monster that moves very fast but in straight lines
  • Monster spawning improved and distributed
  • Collectables spawning improved and better distributed
  • Added museum screen (start screen) which will eventually host all collectables and upgrade tree
  • Lava ignites constantly at random places to keep the pressure on for the player
  • Camera zooms in/out during movement
  • Flares can be thrown with left click now, cursor has to be at a certain distance to the player
  • Flares stick exactly where they have been thrown at
  • Moved the UI to the bottom of the screen and included the collection bag there as well
  • For each death there will be a new tomb at the beginning grass area
• Bugfixes
  • Bag collection fixed
  • Picking up things fixed
  • Bunch of other exceptions fixed

Play here:
https://42bytes.itch.io/flarebound

Wishlist here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3780750/Flarebound/

Flarebound is a roguelite I’m building about descending into a volcano that doesn’t really want you there.

You’ll be collecting strange relics, ancient fossils, and plenty of junk as you dig downward — but there’s pressure. Lava follows you down the path you dug. Gas pockets explode when coming in contact with lava. Things live in the dark. You won’t see everything in one run, but each attempt pushes a little deeper and brings something new to the surface.

There’s a persistent museum where your finds are displayed, and the world gradually expands as you unlock new tools, upgrades, and biomes. Some of it’s eerie, some of it’s playful. It’s not trying to be a survival sim, but you will certainly die a lot in weird ways.

I’m making this solo, mostly for the joy of it. Updates will show up here from time to time.

Wishlist on Steam to get notified when I release an Early Access version: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3780750/Flarebound/